Method and means for coating paper



Dec. 23,, 194i. F. KABELA ET AL METHOD AND MEANS FOR COATING PAPER FiledFeb. 16, 1958 INVENTORS Fred flake/44 14 George/z Wh/f/flq B) ATTORNEYSPatented Dec. 23, 1Q41 METHOD AND MEANS FOR COATING PAPER ma Kabela,Little Ferry, and GeorgeF. wmtlng, Ridgefield, N. J., assignors to LowePaper Company, ltidgefleld, N. 1., a corporation of New JerseyApplication February 16, 1938, Serial No. 190,696

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the coating of paper and has to do with theproduction of an improved finish of the paper coating. The inven-- tionis applicable to coatings applied for the purpose of coloring-or for anyof the other purposes for which coatings are customarily applied.

It is the usual practice in the manufacture of coated paper to apply awet coating material to the paper web and then to pass the coated webthrough drying apparatus for evaporating the moisture from the coating.

In accordance with the present invention, the coating is applied asheretofore, but before being dried a smooth, freely flexible, non-porouspressing sheet or web is pressed against the coating and passed throughthe drier in contact with the coating, being thereafter separated fromthe coated face of the web. This treatment results in the production ofa very smooth and superior finish.

The pressing sheet or web may be fed from a supply reel and accumulatedupon a take-up reel for reuse, or a continuous endless Web may beemployed.

The drier may be of any usual form such as a drying cabinet or a festoondrier.

Where usual finishing coating materials are employed, as for makingprinting paper, a smooth and improved surface finish is produced by thepractice of the invention without impairing in any 1 way the utility ofthe paper for printing purposes. Other objects and advantages willhereinafter appear.

In the drawing forming part of this specification and illustrating moreor less diagrammatii cally certain apparatus embodying the invention,and useful in practicing the invention, the Single figure is adiagrammatic view in side elevation of a coating, laminating and dryingmachine embodying the invention.

In the illustrated form of the invention, a paper web I, is fed througha coating device 25. This device comprises a receptacle 26 for the webcoating material, a take-up roller 21 running in the receptaclesanadjustable regulating roller 28 mounted in juxtaposition to the roller21, and an upper guiding and pressing roller 21a opposed to the roller21 at the opposite side of the web i. The wet coated paper, with thecoated side downward, is fed through a laminating press 29 diasmooth,non-porous material is trained upon the rollers 32 to 31, inclusive, andalso upon additional rollers 39 to 43, inclusive. The web 38 meets theweb I at the laminating press and is pressed firmly against the coatedface of the web I, by the opposed rollers 30' and 3|. The two webstravel in unison through the festoon drier until a roller 44 is reached.At that point the web I, is separated from the web 38, and is deliveredto a take-up reel (not shown).

In the illustrated form of the invention, there is a tendency towardrelative creep of the webs in passing around each of the rollers 32 to31, inclusive. The character of the pressure upon the coating and themanner of its application is varied according to the direction ofcurvature of the webs at the several rollers, so that the a coating isworked more or less. The choice of the type of drier to be employeddepends upon the character of the coating, and especially upon theamount of working which it will stand and which can be usefully appliedto it.

For the pressing web 38 suitable materials are very thin Cellophane,"Kodapak," fSylphrop,

or thin flexible metallic, sheet material; or, in

some instances, a highly finished, water-proof paper may beadvantageously employed and it is to be understood that other materialswhich are freely flexible, smooth, and non-porous may be advantageouslyused. The material chosen should, however, be so freely flexible as tobe completely conformable to the surface of the coating after thecoating has passed through the laminating press. A

We have described what we believe to be the best embodiment of ourinvention. We do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodimentshown, but what we desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in theappended claims.

We claim: I

1. The method of producing glossy-surfaced coatings on paper and similarsheet material which comprises applying a coating of gloss formingsolution to a strip of the material, covering the coating while it ismoist with a smooth dry surface of a band of preformed flexible foilmaterial, pressing the coated material and said band of foil together"to bring the moist coating into intimate contact with said foil surface,drying the coating while maintaining said contact and simultaneouslycausing the foil to be advanced at a slightly different speed than thecoated material by passing the coated sheet material and foil along apartly curved drying path, and thereafter separating the coated materialand said foil.

.2. Apparatus for coating a continuous paper web to produce a smoothsurface finish comprising, in combination, means for applying a wetcoating to a face of the web, an elongated band of thin, freely flexiblefoil material having a smooth surface, means for continuously pressingthe foil material against the coated face of the web to cause adhesionbetween the foil and web, the foil material being more flexible than thepaper web and being conformable to variations in the surface of the wetcoating, a plurality of heated rollersarranged out of alignment witheach other, means for advancing the web while in contact with the foilagainst the surface of said rollers, the surfaces of said rollers beingof such curvature as to cause a slight displacement of the foil withreference to the web while passing thereover, and means beyond saidrollers for separating the foil from the paper web.

FRED KABELA. GEORGE F. WHITING.

